Who/what is the main cause for the situation becoming unmanageable?
XAT 2017 Question Paper - DM
A pastor had eaten at restaurant with his troup of ten and his family. It is a norm to tip the waiter and about 20% of a waiter’s salary comes from these tips. However, while paying the bill, the pastor crossed out the automatic 18% tip charged for parties of more than eight and wrote “I give God 10% why do you get 18%?” above his signature. The chagrined waitress at the restaurant posted a photo of this on the social media. She was subsequently fired for violating company’s policy on customer privacy.
This would have been understandable if the restaurant had not posted just 2 weeks ago a customer receipt that was complimenting them. Social media and social activists came heavily upon the management’s ambivalent stand and the firing of the waitress. In response, the company posted a note on their social media page defending their actions. This quickly drew over 10,000 comments, mostly negative, to which the management started responding by posting the same note over and over again. There were also accusations of the company deleting negative comments and blocking users. The restaurant also experienced a sizable drop in their footfall.
Solution
The main reason for this dire situation was the unfair firing of the waitress. This behaviour of the management was not taken lightly by Social media and the activists.
Thus, the correct option is D.
The downward spiral continued for the restaurant as the management persisted in defending their actions and argued with those who criticised them. By the following week, the original post had generated over 18,000 negative comments.
Which of the following is the best way forward for the restaurant at this juncture?
Solution
The most reasonable way to end the outrage without much harm to the restaurant's image will be to convince the waitress to admit her mistake and reinstate her as a waitress. Since this will not be an easy task as they have wronged her by the disproportionate firing, the best option will be to apologize to her first.
Thus, the correct option is B.
Vimla is the domestic help for Shreya and her neighbour Padma; both live in a posh gated community. Vimla not only cleans the house, but also cooks for both the families. Shreya treasures Vimla ever since she joined her family four years ago. Vimla joined Padma’s household this year.
One evening Shreya trying to pay the pizza delivery was surprised to find a few five hundred rupee notes missing from her purse that she was sure were there earlier. She wants to ascertain if someone has stolen the money. On reflecting, the following facts crossed her mind:
1.In the last one year, Shreya had noticed cash missing on three occasions.
2.Shreya’s husband also shared that a few notes were missing from his wallet, though he was not sure if they were stolen.
3.Her eldest son had been pestering Shreya for more pocket money for the last three weeks; in the last few days, he had stopped doing so.
4.In the last one year, Vimla had received six mails from her family asking for money.
5.Her eldest son’s expenditure had gone up in the last few days.
Which of the following combinations of the above statements would DECREASE the likelihood that Vimla has stolen the money?
Solution
Statements 1, 2, and 4 weaken Vimla's case as if true; this will directly make her a suspect.
Statements 3 and 5 will decrease the likelihood of Vimla stealing the money; if true, the eldest son of Sherya will have a motive for stealing the money.
Thus, the correct option is E.
Padma discovered some money missing from her purse. She suspects that Vimla has stolen it. She wants to prevent the stealing from happening again and is contemplating the following actions:
1.She should let it pass, since to err is human.
2.She should confront Vimla and tell her that she knows the truth and the act is unpardonable regardless of her past service and she is thinking of terminating her services.
3.She should tell Vimla that she is aware someone has stolen money from the house but is not sure who it is.
4.She should share with Vimla that neighbours think Vimla has stolen the money she doesn’t, but is interested in finding out the truth.
5.She should directly ask Vimla if she stole the money, promising her no punishment if she confesses.
Arrange the following combinations of the above actions in the DECREASING order of appropriateness.
Solution
Padma cannot let this pass as it will only encourage this kind of behaviour. Also, since she only has suspicions against Vimla, she cannot directly confront her with the blame.
The best way would be to let Vimla get an idea that she is suspecting to her. She should follow a more nuanced approach for the same.
As statements 3, 4, and 5 promote a more subtle and indirect approach, the correct answer is D.
For the following questions answer them individually
Analyse the following caselet and answer the question that follows:
Genius Consulting is a boutique consulting firm started by Shirish, Balram, Rahman and Xavier, four friends from a premier business school. They committed themselves to abide by two principles: a) not to indulge in anything unethical and b) share earnings equally.
Genius Consulting could not get a significant project till the following year, when they managed a big one after Rahman’s father referred their firm to his top management. Convinced of the team’s talent following an impressive presentation, the top management awarded them the project even though six other referred teams made presentations.
The day following the presentations, they met to decide the way forward for the organization. Which of the following choices would be the most appropriate for Genius Consulting?
Solution
The project does not violate any principle of Genius consulting. Getting referred is not an unethical activity. Therefore, we can eliminate options A and B.
Sharing the earnings equally is one of the core values of Genius consulting. Therefore, Rahman should not be paid the finders fee.
Therefore, option C is the right answer.
Mrs Biswas was to retire in one year after serving in the construction department of the Gujarat government for more than thirty years. After retirement, she wanted to spend her retired life along with Mr Biswas, a retired school teacher in a small town in Kerala. They had two children, both studying in Bengaluru. The Biswas’ wished to construct a house in Kerala with their life savings.
The couple gathered information about owning a house in Kerala. They had four options:
1.Buy a fully furnished house from a big developer.
2.Buy a semi-furnished house from big developer and furnish it.
3.Get a local unregistered contractor to construct a house and furnish it.
4.Mr Biswas with inputs from the family could supervise the construction of a house back in Kerala by employing the best material, engineers, masons and labourers.
Which option would ENSURE the best control of quality of construction for the Biswas’?
Solution
Since Mr Biswas already has a long experience in the construction field, with the help of the best engineers and products under the supervision of his family, he can ensure the best quality for the house.
Thus, the correct answer is D.
Which of the following additional information, IF TRUE, would improve the chances of the third option being preferred?
Solution
If the local contractors enjoy a good reputation for their work among the local property holders, it will provide more credibility to them despite being unregistered.
If option B is true, it will improve their chances of getting the contract.
Thus, the correct option is B.
The Kerala Government recently announced a policy: In case of major quality infringement, the builder will pay a penalty of 50% of the price of the house in addition to the price of the house, to the client within a year of notice.
Rank in ASCENDING order the options that would ensure “control of quality”.
Solution
Since the local unregistered contractors have the least credibility, the answer should start with 3. It will be followed by purchasing an old furnished house. Thus, option 1 will come next.
Since the most appropriate way to ensure the quality is to build themselves with the best resources under the supervision of their family, option 4 will come last.
Thus, the correct option is C.
A University coach was asked to select teams in three sports: Shooting, Cricket (batsmen only) and “Snakes & Ladder”. The honest and keen observer head boy of the school informed the coach that he had observed 100 students playing the three games - shooting, cricket and “Snakes & Ladder”. In shooting, all students were given 100 chances to hit a target. In cricket, a batsman faced a maximum of 100 balls, provided he DID NOT GET OUT. In “Snakes & Ladder”, every student could play 100 matches, one each with the other students and one against a computer. In shooting, a player got one point for hitting the target and zero point for missing the target. In cricket, a batsman got one point for hitting the ball and zero point for missing it. In “Snakes & Ladder”, a person got one point for winning the game and zero for losing. To the coach’s utter surprise, the distribution of points across all three games was the same. It was as follows:
The coach has to select a team of eleven in each sport.
Which of the following options is the best way to select the “Snakes & Ladder” team?
Solution
We have to analyze the nature of the games before answering the questions.
'Snake and ladder' is a game based on luck. Past performance in the game cannot be held as a reflection of one's true potential.
'Shooting' is a game extremely dependent on the skills of the player. Therefore, the past performance of the player has a huge implication on how the player might perform in the future.
In 'cricket' we have details only about the player hitting the ball. A team cannot be composed using batsmen alone. Therefore, the past performance in this sport, though reflective of the person's abilities, cannot be used to form a good team since some data are missing.
As we have seen, snakes and ladders is a game based on luck. Therefore, the coach can ignore the data and select 11 students randomly. Therefore, option E is the right answer.
Which of the following options is the best way of selecting the Shooting team?
Solution
We have to analyze the nature of the games before answering the questions. '
Snake and ladder' is a game based on luck. Past performance in the game cannot be held as a reflection of one's true potential. 'Shooting' is a game extremely dependent on the skills of the player. Therefore, the past performance of the player has a huge implication on how the player might perform in the future. In 'cricket' we have details only about the player hitting the ball. A team cannot be composed using batsmen alone. Therefore, the past performance in this sport, though reflective of the person's abilities, cannot be used to form a good team since
Which of the following options is the correct statement for picking up the cricket team?
Solution
We have to analyze the nature of the games before answering the questions. '
Snake and ladder' is a game based on luck. Past performance in the game cannot be held as a reflection of one's true potential. 'Shooting' is a game extremely dependent on the skills of the player. Therefore, the past performance of the player has a huge implication on how the player might perform in the future. In 'cricket' we have details only about the player hitting the ball. We haven't been provided any information whatsoever regarding how many runs they scored on those balls. So we can't make a decision based on that. Therefore, while selecting the cricket team, we have almost limited to no information available.
Therefore, the correct answer would be Option E.
A college campus with a population of around 2,000 of whom 200 were children, 1,200 people between 15 and 45 years, 500 people between 45 and 65 and around 100 people more than 65 years of age. The campus has two big gates opening out to the city. There are 400 cars and 500 motorbikes inside the campus. The residents relied on these vehicles to visit the city located 10 kilometres away.
Now, with land within the campus becoming scarce, the chief administrator (CA) found the growing demand for parking lot difficult to handle. The faculty, staff and students wanted increased parking space. In the past six years, the parking requirement on campus had doubled. The CA found it inappropriate to construct parking lots from the students’ fee, even though those with vehicles may not complain about it.
Besides creating parking problems, the CA felt that these vehicles added to the pollution and made residents less responsible toward each other. The risk to the children and the elderly because of over-speeding was menacing. Therefore, the CA wanted to reduce the number of vehicles in the campus. Many faculty members, students and staff members, however, felt that demand for more parking space was natural as vehicles were required to go to the market, railway station, airport, and inter-state bus terminal all located in the city. They also told the CA that the elderly, sick and the toddlers relied only on these vehicles.
After listening to all stakeholders, the CA wanted to solve these problems while ensuring the campus remained responsible and green.
Which of the following actions would best satisfy all the stakeholders within the campus?
Solution
The best way to reduce the risks of vehicles inside the campus will be to limit their use inside the campus.
Option B gives the most appropriate solution as the space outside the campus will not only provide an increased parking space it will also decrease the number of vehicles inside the campus.
Since this approach has also taken care of cases of emergencies,
The correct option is B.
Which of the following would be the best option to increase revenue, decrease carbon footprint and still satisfy all the stakeholders in the campus?
Solution
Constructing a parking lot outside the campus will decrease the number of vehicles inside the campus. Also, it will not only take care of the pollution issues, which is the main concern of the passage, but it will also help in funding the construction of the parking space.
Thus, the correct option is A.
Girirajan an unemployed youngster from Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu, visited Singapore where his school friend worked as software engineer. In Singapore, Girirajan realized that there were a lot of Tamils in “Little India” area. He soon assessed that there were very few restaurants serving authentic Tamil food and decided to set-up a restaurant “Giri’s” in “Little India” serving authentic Tamil food in traditional banana leaf. Customers loved the food. Very soon word spread about the good quality food served in the traditional way. Girirajan expanded operation recruiting 10 employees, all Tamils.
Six months later, Girirajan realized that a lot of Kannadiga and Telugu customers started visiting the restaurant along with their Tamil friends. One day, a Kannadiga customer looking for Devangere Benne Dosa suggested that it may not be a bad idea for Girirajan to serve Karnataka and Andhra cuisines along with Tamil.
With time, the popularity of the reastaurant kept soaring. As a result, a lot of Malays, Indonesians and Chinese started visiting the restaurant. His software engineer friend advised to cater to customers of all nationalities. Despite his desire to go grand, Girirajan realized he did not have enough money to get extra space anywhere in Singapore and banks were also reluctant to lend.
One day, while assessing the business, he realized that the restaurant had 90% occupancy rate during peak hours and 40% during the non-peak hours. Both figures were increasing with time.
Which of the following options would be most suitable for the growth of the business?
Solution
Girirajan is facing issues with scalability because of a lack of funds. Since he does not have to resources to expand right now, it would not be a very good idea to include some of the dishes on the menu, as this move can be taken out of proportion and can be seen as discrimination.
He should focus on his current dishes and try to utilize their full potential by improving the quality he is currently offering. This, in the long run, can provide him with the required funds to expand the menu and scale his business.
Thus, the correct answer is C.
Girirajan started analyzing his quarterly customer data to assess growth opportunities. He discovered that 20% of his customers are Kannadigas and many of them were requesting for a few Karnataka dishes. He was not sure if it was a good idea to serve Karnataka food. He wanted to experiment before taking the final call. Which of the following options will be worth experimenting in the next fortnight?
Solution
20% of the total customers is a significant number, and thus, implementing their requests should be among Girirajan's priorities.
Since he wants to experiment with this potential opportunity, he should add some of the requests made by the Kannadigas to his menu for the next day to analyze the behaviour of the customers. Also, displaying them in a separate menu will make it easier for the be an excellent idea to gauge the customer's behaviour.
Thus, the correct answer is E.
Giriraja experimented with Karnataka food for a fortnight. He collected sales data for Karnataka food along with the trend of overall sales for the last seven days. Which of the following datasets, IF TRUE, will give Girirajan greater confidence to continue serving Karnataka food? (Figures below represent Karnataka food sales as percentage of total sales.)
Solution
A linear or exponential growth in the business following an experiment is a good sign for the business. It will very well boost Girirajan's confidence to continue serving Karnataka food.
Thus, the correct option is A.
Shyam prepares and sells piping hot puri and sabji (gravy) from 7:00 am to 9:00 am (both inclusive) through a stall at XLRI campus. Presently, he has just a single oven, which can do only one job at a time. It takes 30 minutes to cook one handi (a large bowl) of sabji, sufficient for 12 customers. It takes him 10 minutes to prepare 2 plates of puri at a time. While the cost of a plate of puri-sabji is ₹ 10, the price is ₹ 25. Puri stays hot for only 5 minutes after preparation, while sabji stays hot for 30 minutes only. It takes 10 minutes to reheat the sabji which stays hot for another 30 minutes. If he brings a handi of hot sabji from home, the transport would cost him ₹ 50. It can also stay hot for 30 minutes excluding the transportation time. Currently, every 20 minutes five plates are ordered. All unsold quantities are distributed at cost after 9:30 am.
Find the maximum number of plates of puri-sabji Shyam can sell in the first hour of business?
Solution
Share
The 1st handi of sabji is brought from home. This can be served for 12 customers. Two plates of puri's are made in 10 mins.
Now in 30 min, the number of puri-sabji that can be served = 6
After 30 min, the sabji needs to be heated which taken 10 mins.
Hence, in the remaining 20 min 4 plates of puri-sabji can be served.
Hence, in total in the first hour 10 plates of puri-sabji can be served.
Hence, option C is the correct answer.
Shyam’s puri-sabji became famous. Now he gets 5 orders per 10 minutes and has invested in an additional oven. As he is working alone on both the ovens simultaneously, now in any one oven it takes him 45 minutes to cook one handi of sabji,15 minutes for 2 plates of puri and 15 minites to reheat the sabji. He can bring only one handi from home. What will be his maximum daily profit?
Solution
Since he already has one handi of sabji, he will invest the first 30 minutes of starting time in making puris in the oven.
As 1 oven cooks 2 plates of puris in 15 minutes, in the first 30 minutes, he will be able to prepare 8 plates of puris.
Total plates of Puri = 11*2
Now, profit = 15 × 22 = 330 - 50 (Transport cost) = 280
Thus, the correct answer is B.
Shyam’s stall was becoming popular by the day. Now he gets 5 customers every 10 minutes. After buying a second oven, he employed a helping hand, Aman at ₹ 100 for two hours. Aman can cook one handi of sabji in 20 minutes or can prepare 3 plates of puri in 10 minutes. Reheat time for sabji is 10 minutes. None of them can work on both the ovens simultaneously.
Which of the following options will help Shyam maximize his daily profit, if he does NOT bring sabji from home?
Solution
Since the efficiency of Aman in making both Sabji and Puri is better than that of Shyam, Shyam should use his proficiencies in both parts.
For the first 20 minutes, Aman will make sabji and Shyam will make puri in the next 10 min. Then they can make puris in the ovens simultaneously and hence, can work on both the parts.
Thus, the correct answer is D.
For the following questions answer them individually
Analyse the following caselete and answer the question that follows:
As a newly started organization in the IT sector, Saksha IT is a fast growing 400 employee organization. Its head, Saksha Kumar believes in building an organization driven by humility. Which of the following policies would best help him achieve that?
Solution
Humility is the quality of not being proud of being perfect as you are aware of your limitations. Therefore, among the options, the option that focuses on awareness of the self with respect to limitations should be in the consideration for the correct answer. However, the focus on awareness of self is not neceesarily linked Improvement" or "overcoming' the limitations. Moreover, the culture of humility should not be confused with the performance measurement or rewards and compensation. Among the options, Option D focuses on making one aware of one self without any link with rewards or performance and hence, Option D is the right answer.
Analyse the following caselete and answer the question that follows:
Principal Maheshwari of BINK School of Management is facing a problem that calls for quick action. She received an anonymous mail one day, possibly from one of the students, complaining about outdated syllabi, medicore teachers and poor choice of courses on offer.
Which of the following is the best course of action available to the Principal?
Solution
The Principal did need not mention the anonymous mail. Hence option A is eliminated. She can directly address the concerns of the students without referring to the mail. Option C and D tantamount to accepting that the syllabi are outdated. It is necessary to address the concerns of the students; hence option E is also eliminated. Option B is correct as it assures the students about the efforts being made from the management side.
